2 Corinthians 5:15-17– “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

My first name is Katherine, but when I was little, my parents called me Katie. This nickname stuck all through high school. When I graduated, I was ready to shed my nerdy and what felt like misunderstood identity from high school and move on to college where I could re-invent myself as I saw me – not living in the perceived identify that my classmates embraced. One of my first steps was going to a large university where I knew next to no one. Step 2? Changing my name to Kate. New town, new name, new identify. I loved my “new’ self and where I didn’t have to live by the old circumstances of life.

A similar (and even better) new self emerges when we place our trust in Jesus. Scripture specifically tells us that when we lay our lives before Jesus in surrender and submission, He gives us a new identity. Not just a new name, but a new outlook on life – “the old has gone, the new has come!”

Is there something this year that you need to give to Jesus? Something old that needs to be exchanged for the gift of new?

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